Instruction Helping Others

Introduction

Helping others has demonstrated to be advantageous in numerous aspects. Not only do you get the fulfillment of helping someone in need, but you can also benefit from an increased sense of purpose in your life. It can enhance your connectivity in your workplace and make you more of an asset to your organization.

The Power of Appreciation

The thing with appreciation is that it actually benefits you far more than the individual you're showing it towards. When you feel appreciative, thankful, and content in your own life and experiences, you will find that you need less. You'll realize that you're more satisfied with where you are and with what you currently have in life. Demonstrating appreciation is considerably more than a simple 'thank you' without further thought. To improve the quality of your life and the lives of others, it is important to show genuine appreciation for the things you are grateful for. In this essay, I will explore various ways you can express your appreciation and let people in your life know exactly how much you value them and how to be thankful in your daily life.

Making Time for Appreciation

Between running children to and from appointments and activities, juggling work and household responsibilities, and trying to keep up with your daily duties, it can be easy to forget to make time to show genuine appreciation for others. However, our time with them may be much shorter than we realize.

Do Not Take Things Personally

Learning how not to take things personally will help you understand others better. Everyone is going through something, so what they say or do may have nothing to do with you. However, when you take things personally, you create a narrative and judgment on the other person that will prevent you from seeing the bigger picture.

Keep a Helpfulness Journal

Journaling is a great way to develop new habits in various aspects of our lives. Try keeping a journal dedicated to the subject of being helpful. In it, record acts of support you observe in others and new ideas you have to be helpful to those around you. Set a goal to offer unsolicited help daily, and track your progress in the journal.

Be a Positive Influence

It's easy to overlook how your attitude impacts others. However, staying positive and open-minded can truly help others in ways you might never imagine. Focus on being a positive influence in every situation, and you'll quickly notice others will gravitate towards you, engage with you more, and seek your guidance when you least expect it. Helping others doesn't always equate to a physical act.

Be Focused on Others

When we are focused on others and see a need, we can step in and help someone else succeed. Helping others succeed makes the whole team successful. Move from looking at your phone to asking how someone is doing and make a genuine connection. It just takes five minutes to find out where they need help.

Be Intentional

We sometimes need to separate our private life habits from our work life habits. However, they influence one another. So be deliberate about asking others how you can help them on a consistent basis. Then actually do it. The more you become focused on others and on serving, the more you get out of your own way.

Scheduled Mindfulness

One simple habit to become a more helpful person is to be mindful of others. Consider at least one person daily that you are grateful for. Write a daily goal to help one person each day. Look for ways to help, and then act on it. Write daily about helping others, commit to it, and it forms a habit. Most of us need reminding far more than we need teaching, so schedule recurring daily reminders.

Approach Others for Genuine Feedback

Asking your seniors, peers, reports, and clients for critical feedback will not only go a long way toward helping you be a more helpful person but will also provide you with a solid measure for your performance.

Give Your Time

The best way to show your willingness to help others is to give your time. Time is a precious commodity that you can't create more of. When we give our time in support of others without expectation of return, it sends a clear signal that we respect them. The gift of your time, which demonstrates that you care, is arguably one of the greatest services you can provide.

Practice Empathy

The easiest way to become more helpful is to start by understanding the situation of those around you. We often get so focused on what we need to do that we don't spend enough time trying to understand how others are feeling. When we do, it becomes easier to become more helpful.

References

Smith, J. (2021). The Art of Helping Others: Practical Tips for Meaningful Impact. New York, NY: HarperCollins.

Johnson, L. (2020). Empathy in Action: Understanding and Supporting Others. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.